Mega pub ‘will bring the Cross to Bondi’
A MEGA pub development will turn the laid-back beach vibe of Bondi into the new Kings Cross of the east, angry residents claim.
Slated to open for business early next year, the proposed watering hole on the corner of Campbell Pde and Beach Rd will be exempt from the tight inner-city lockout laws, with a 2am closing time being flagged.
The pub will be flanked by 10 new restaurants and will be part of the multimillion-dollar Pacific Bondi development at the old Swiss Grand site being built by millionaires Eduard Litver and Allen Linz.
But locals are already calling for the police and Waverley Council to reel in the closing times, claiming a 2am cut-off will transform the beachfront strip into the new Golden Mile.
Since the lockout laws were introduced in Kings Cross and the CBD, Bondi Beach, along with Newtown and Double Bay, is one of the areas that has attracted mig-rating, late-night drinkers.
Bondi resident Stephanie Devine started a petition last week objecting to the pub proposal.
“The worst-case scenario is a pub that is open until 2am which will attract all of the drinkers from the Beach Road Hotel which closes at midnight,” she said. “That will create a thoroughfare of people marching down Beach Rd and through residential areas. The idea of it is horrible. It will be like the main street of Kings Cross.”
According to the development application, the hotel istel will seat 90 people and have room for 100 standing patrons. Its windows will open onto Campbell Street until 10pm.
So far an operator is yet to come on board. Development applications have also been submitted for 10 restaurants, including two larger venues with midnight licence applications.
The Pacific Bondi development will also include a hotel, to be run by QT Hotels, and residential apartments.
Bondi councillor John Wakefield said a new late-night venue would have a huge impact on residents.
“Already I have heard stories of people seeing couples having sex in people’s front lawns on Beach Rd,” he said.
“Do we really need more of that? I think a 2am closing time needs to be seriously considered.”
Source: The Daily Telegraph, Amy Harris, 3rd October 2015
Originally published as: Mega pub ‘will bring the Cross to Bondi’
